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I bought a new extractor for my M1 carbine and it was packed in cosmoline. I sprayed brake cleaner on it and while it did remove some of it there was plenty left. So I used an old GI trick and boiled some water and set the part in an old metal loaf pan and poured the water in. It came out clean.


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I've used gasoline. dangerous, but effective.

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In the 80's i bought cases of sks's. Shipped in what seemed like a solid blob of cosmoline. cut the top out of a barrel , dumped the whole mess in and filled with gasoline. after the 12 rifles came apart l jiggled them up and down till they were clean . Wife made me sleep in the shop for a week.
I probably hate cosmoline as much as anything hateable


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Years ago I bought a Springfield 03-A3 that had been packed in cosmoline, I used denatured alcohol to clean the stuff off.

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When i was in the national guard, a long time ago, we used a mix of gasoline n oil to clean our m1 garands after firing blanks. A few guys were smoking too at the time. As a gunsmith. I removed as much cosmoline as possible and then used brakleen. A pre parkerizing cleaning bath of tide detergent or liquid detergent works too. Have fun, Mel

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a very hot water and soapy bath works


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Boiling water is probably the best and safest way to remove real cosmoline from parts.

Cosmoline seems to have become a generic term for whatever grease a rifle comes packed in. The Springfields the CMP sold years ago (at least the ones I saw) were packed in nothing but good old automotive grease; I believe the CMP indicated it was automotive grease on their website at the time because so many questions were being asked about how to best clean them. I cleaned up a few of them by soaking the small parts in a bread pan in kerosene and wiping the stock with mineral spirits, which does no harm to the wood while removing the grease. I saw some Yugoslavian rebuilt 98ks that were also stored in automotive-type grease. Rifles so stored will sweat grease from the wood on a hot day for a long time after it's cleaned up.


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Some of the mausers I have bought...looks like earwax lol

Just a ton of paper towels and time.

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The easy way to remove cosmoline, Strip rifle as much as possible then turn you shower on as hot as you can stand it and wash the rifle and all the parts, a light brush helps, I have cleaned many 1903's and M1s that were wrapped and coated with cosmoline. Don't let you wife catch you till you have cleaned every thing up. Rio7

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I bought a new sks once still wrapped in cosmoline in a plastic bag. Took the long view took it to the car wash hung it by the floor mat rack selected hot with soap and dropped in $5. Worked well. MB


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This is a good time of year for such. Wrap it in cloth, in a plastic bag and lay it on the desk of the car in the sun. It heats it up and is absorbed by the rag. The bag kerps it off of the dash.

Works well for old stocks as well

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I have taken a shower with rifles covered in cosmoline. Hot water and a toothbrush hellps.

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I bought some Greek return Garands and 1903s from the CMP a number of years back. Seems the Greeks didn't care for cosmoline. The rifles were coated with what appeared to be a mixture of bee's wax and axle grease.

I did the black plastic bag and paper towel thing for two summers. The stock's only ooze a little bit of grease now when shot.


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In the early 90s were received our new issue M16's. We were tasked with removing the cosmoline. I believe all we used was Break Free and elbow grease. If there was something better than the AF wouldn't let us use it.

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You can also use a heat gun on the stock's to remove embedded grease. Heat and wipe with paper towels, then something chemical to remove to remaining surface grease.


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Coleman fuel is what we used in the 60's. Then soap and water(hot). Not sure the best thing to use, but coleman fuel works!

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Mineral spirits and a stiff bristle brush works great.


Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
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Originally Posted by Just a Hunter
In the early 90s were received our new issue M16's. We were tasked with removing the cosmoline. I believe all we used was Break Free and elbow grease. If there was something better than the AF wouldn't let us use it.

Buddy of mine was in the army about the same time. They had the Silkwood grade showers on base apparently. He told me that worked pretty well.

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The method I use is more of an easy bake oven setup. I went to Fleet/Farm, bought a large metal garbage can, three bare bulb light sockets, and an extension cord. The can was drilled for the fixtures, the lid was drilled for a metal eyelet, everything got wired up,and some 100 watt bulbs were installed. In use the part being stripped of cosmo is hung from the eyelet with whatever metal wire is handy. This method's worked pretty well for me since I found the design on a long since forgotten website at least 20 years ago.


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